I've just been having a gander at the Stena Line and P&O sites, as it's time that I start seriously considering my move to Ireland. If I go by ferry, then I can take all my stuff and have a better time of settling in when I get there. If I've spent too decadently this year and a ferry is subsequently too expensive, then it's EasyJet and selective packing, as well as a massive essentials shop when I get there.

Thankfully, it's not looking like this will be a problem. Both Stena Line and P&O are offering returns for two passengers in a car for less than £210, which is under a month's pay for me (I get paid every fortnight). So if I can just stay the bloody hell away from my bank account for a couple of months, get some of these bus tickets refunded at last and sort out the coach tickets to Cambridge so I can pay Holly's Dad the £28 that I owe for the hotel, it'll all be snazzy and wonderful!

Another thing I've been considering for a little while is how to keep minions in England updated with my day-to-day conquests in Ireland. There are people who I want to keep informed with my shenanigans who don't really read or aren't massively aware of my journal. Mainly Dad, Sian, Laura, Jason and maybe Holly - I'm not sure how often she reads.

Originally I was just thinking about Jason, as he doesn't have an Internet connection in his house. I was going to print off the week's journal entries and post them to him. But then, this morning, the idea expanded to include other people. I could have a little mailing list thing going on!

Tis indeed a quiet day. I've almost cleared out my inbox now, I've not got many stories on the to-do list and I'm just enjoying a cup of fruit tea courtesy of Steve - some rather nice hibiscus, spearmint, cherries, orange peel concoction that wakes you right up. Apparently he got it from Holland & Barrett so methinks I'll have to get some.

Anna cancelled on needing me for decorating. I'm glad she did so before I went out and bought a whole new set of acrylics, as I would have raided The Works and bought a complete set of those big £2.99 tubes; that, along with tomorrow's bus ticket, would have put me back by £50 and that's the last thing I need.

TNG must owe me nearly £70, now, from bus ticket refunds. Not their fault, of course; I've often been too focused on work at the Star to go back there for refunds.

Let me see, what else can I waffle about to pass the time? I'm after a new sketchbook like the old ones I had - the ones that college so graciously chucked out - to restart my art project. I want one that's A3, hardback, coilbound (they're by far the coolest!) but I don't know where in St Helens to acquire such a thing. Normally I rely on Amazon but I'd like my sketchbook LYK NAO.

Wilkinson's is a definite no-no. They only sell the sketchpads where the pages are designed to be torn out. Last time I checked WHSmith their A3 coilbound sketchbooks weren't hardback. I'm not sure if Ryman's would have what I'm looking for, though their prices are good, and Rennie's is bloody expensive, though it might have what I'm after.

If this goes well, I might try buying more sketchbooks to illustrate other works of fiction. It would really help me to go places as an illustrator if I had four, maybe five good sketchbooks to show. I could do '1984', 'The Soft Machine', 'Waiting for Godot', 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'... plus my own novels!

You never seemed to leave that chair.
I didn't think in all your years
your legs had failed; you were
the immovable monolith;
King of our Clan
but not impartial to
a smothering hug
or a talkative child on your knee.
Those faces made me shriek with glee.

You were the light, the life and soul
of all occasions,
of any occasion.
That thick dark wig
immortalised in photographs, that
touched the heads of all of us,
as you touched the hearts of all of us.
And your lemonade, 7up
you let no-one have but me.

Eleven years on
your beloved takes that chair
and feels your glow
though you're not there;

She cannot hope to
fill the space
of all your years
though you're not here.

We have the photos and the talk,
we have the earth where you once walked,
before your passing and your pain,
we had you once but not again.